Lesley Goldstein was the voice of youth, decades before Kurt Cobain had the moniker thrust upon him by the “grunge” generation. At 16, the young, aspiring singer (now using the surname “Gore”) pored over hundred of demos with her novice producer, Quincy Jones. The pair finally agreed on a melancholy tune about a poor birthday girl …
But there’s a full moon risin’ Let’s go dancin’ in the light We know where the music’s playin’ Let’s go out and feel the night. Because I’m still in love with you I want to see you dance again Because I’m still in love with you On this harvest moon.
For fifteen minutes, every Friday night, US soldiers fighting in World War II were comforted by the songs and stories of “Phyllis Jeanne, your Canteen Girl.” Broadcast on the NBC network from 1942 until the end of the war, Phyllis Creore was a friendly voice for homesick troops. She used the name “Phyllis Jeanne” because …
Here’s another Inktober 2016 bonus… “Just tell it to call you Billie, you bitch!” – Henry Northrup’s parting words to his shrewish, overbearing wife Wilma in “Creepshow” (1982) Here’s an account of my encounter with the aforementioned “Billie.”
Inktober rages on! Here is my entry for week number two. It’s Dr. Anton Phibes, as portrayed by the inimitable Vincent Price in the 1971 camp horror classic The Abominable Dr. Phibes and its sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, released the following year.
I was a fan of Pat Benatar and I bought Crimes of Passion when it was released in 1980. Spawning three best-selling singles and several AOR station favorites, Crimes of Passion was the biggest selling album of Benatar’s career. By the time Seven the Hard Way, her seventh album, came out, my musical tastes had moved on …
Tinka-tinka-tee!
Betsy Palmer had a long and illustrious career in films, television and on the stage. She was featured in the original teleplay of Paddy Chayefsky’s Marty in 1953, two years before its big screen adaptation. She originated the role of “Alma” in Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. She was Williams’ personal choice for the role. In …
I’m driving right up to you, babe I guess that you couldn’t see, yeah yeah But you were under my wheels honey Why don’t you let me be? Only Alice Cooper could sing a love song about running over his girlfriend with his car. That’s what makes Alice “Alice.”
I have fond memories of Frank Sinatra’s music and how it spanned several generations. My mom loved Frank Sinatra beginning in his early days as a big band singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, when he appealed to the bobbysoxers… and my mom was a bobbysoxer. When I was a teenager in the 70s, Frank …
